Shades of Blue
by theycallherkaush
Summary: - "Wait," he tells her. Her breathing stops again. Just like that time in the mini-van. "You can't go again." And he kisses her. – Cate/Baze, throughout the years.


**Summary: - "Wait," he tells her. Her breathing stops again. Just like that time in the mini-van. "You can't go again." And he kisses her. – Cate/Baze, throughout the years. **

_Inspiration brought to you by:_ The Only Exception – Paramore.

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a.

It might have been because of his eyes. Or maybe it was the Zema and the Spin Doctors. But either way, she fell for him. And somehow, someway, they were in the back of his mother's mini-van having sex. Winter formal, in the middle of the damned parking lot.

b.

It's quite possible that someone could've noticed them. You know, in that mini-van. But if there was a voyeur peeking at them through the wide-span front window, they were too busy – doing, well, who wants to get into the details?

c.

She notices him now. Years later, when she hasn't spoken to him in a while. She's thought of him almost daily. The way he was, all those years ago. So she keeps looking at him through the window the bar – the one he owned. She knew he was destined for greater things. But, as they say, some people peak in high school. The star football player seemed to fit into that category. She sighs and keeps looking at him, feeling thoroughly like she was some sort of pervert.

d.

He was working behind the bar, serving a customer a glass of beer. He was smiling and talking, laughing occasionally. It didn't help that said customer was a 20-something-year-old-blonde wearing a tight top and a short skirt. Cate sighed and walked away, her heels clacking. She had to get home, and soon, before Ryan noticed that she was missing.

e.

He looks up then, at that exact moment that she's exiting the stage. It's as if they'd timed it. He sighs and continues flirting with the girl in front of him who has an annoying giggle that's a pitch too high. _Her laugh didn't sound anything like that_, he found himself thinking. He'd been doing that lately – thinking about her.

f.

He wasn't sure why. That after all this time, his mind goes back to the girl. The girl that he'd taken to the winter formal. The girl that he couldn't dare to forget. Even if at the time he was the football player and she was the shy book girl with braces and frizzy hair.

g.

It's a year later now. A year adding to all the years that they haven't spoken to each other. It's during this year that he hears her voice on the radio. On one early morning that he had gotten up because his latest conquest was one of those girls. Those girls that got up during the crack of dawn, being awaken by the smell of caffeine.

h.

So now **he** wakes up. Everyday at a quarter to six. And this is all just to hear her voice as he's brewing a cup of coffee. When he'd became all tied up, he could never figure out. His girl Friday never woke up before noon. (For the next day was, after all, Saturday. And who woke up early on Saturday's? Well, that is, except him.)

i.

He hears her laugh then. On that radio show. It kills him that she keeps flirting with her co-host. That guy didn't know her when she went to high school. That guy didn't keep thinking about her day after day after day. That guy didn't keep seeing her face in his dreams. That guy wasn't _him_. And he was the one who should've been with her.

j.

She came back. A year later, on that exact day that she stood outside his bar from last time. She still watches him, Baze. She still watches him grin and talk to the girl sitting at the table he was clearing off. Those charming dimples make their appearance then and she makes a move to open the door, to go inside and say something to him. After all these years.

k.

But her phone rings on that exact second that she's debating whether to go in or not. She bites her cheek and looks up at the sky. It doesn't seem right, she tells herself. And then she opens up her purse, picking up her phone and saying, "Hi. How are you, Ryan?" And he answers that he's anxious for her to get home because he has to ask her something. She replies and says, "Of course," tagging along some word like _sweetheart_ or _darling_. A word that can only be associated with your love.

l.

He looks up, then. Just on time to see a brunette make her leave. Another precise moment that should have been coordinated. He stares at her retreating figure thinking, _hey, she looks just like…_But he stops himself then. There was no reason that he needed to get himself hoping. Hoping for no reason whatsoever.

m.

It's been a while now. A while since he's thought of her. Although, she seems to always be in the back of his mind. He stopped listening in on her radio shows months ago. What was the point, he asked himself, if she wasn't ever going to be making an appearance in his life ever again? He didn't need another thing to mull over in his mind – he had his hands full with Clara something-or-other.

n.

She was having dinner with Ryan. Another date, adding to the already high number that they've been on. She was wearing another one of her countless cocktail dresses. Blue, like the one she was wearing on the night of the dreaded Winter Formal. Blue, like the color of his eyes. She looked down at her heels, remembering the time they were in his car and he took off her shoes. She bites her lip, looking up at Ryan who was going on about the time that they… oh, who cares?

o.

She was shocked, to say the least. They'd left the restaurant soon after dinner, skipping dessert altogether, when Ryan just popped the question like that. You don't just ask someone to marry you. You don't just _not_ drop any hints. It was too much. So she found herself throwing things at him. The TV remote, for one.

p.

Then she ran, her high heels clicking and her blue dress fluttering. She didn't know where she was driving when she stuck the key and revved the engine up, making a very dangerous U turn. However, when she found herself parking the car right across the street from the very bar that Baze owned, she'd made up her mind that she would go inside.

q.

So now she was standing outside - still hesitant on whether to throw the door open and barge in there like she owned the place, or run back to the car as if she was a rabbit. She looked down at the cemented sidewalk, not sure on what to do. After all these years, after all this time. After avoiding him so well, did she really want to do this? Did she really want to talk to him? A sigh of resignation passed through her as she turned on her heel and started walking her way back to her car, keys dangling and all.

r.

He catches her now, the girl that's been haunting him through his dreams and memories. He looks up at her right in time to see her crinkle her eyebrows in determination. Then he sees her sigh and turn around. His eyes go wide and before he can think, he rapidly heads to the door, abandoning his latest catch.

s.

He doesn't know what he's doing, he doesn't know what's going to happen. All he knows that it's worth the risk, talking to her. And that he needs to do it. If not for him, for her – for them. If there ever was a them.

t.

She gasps as she feels his warm hands on her elbow, turning her around. Her breathing becomes shallow as she feels those tingles that she hasn't felt in years. So she looks up at him, at Baze, and sees his eyes.

u.

"Cate," he says, then stops abruptly. _Hi_, he wants to say to her. _How are you after all this time? _But it doesn't fit them, a hello. It's not as if they're old acquaintances, or even old flames. Because it wasn't like that with them. It wasn't like that with Cate and Baze. They were so much more.

v.

"It's been a while," she answers. "How's it going for you?" He smiles; it's as if they haven't changed. After all this time, after all the mistakes, they seem to get one thing right. "It's passing by, Cate," he notices her dress then. "It's passing by."

w.

"Good." She sees his casual black shirt, and wonders how it brings

out his eyes even more. "Good." And he laughs – that laugh that she hasn't heard in years. There's a gap in their conversation now, half awkward, half recognizable. "So," she says, "nice seeing you."

x.

"Yeah." He nods, looking at her hair – it was as brown as ever. "Great catching up to you." And then she turns away and proceeds to open her car door. It's then that he notices her heels. Her black heels, the same ones that she wore on that night, that night many, many moons ago. He sucks in a breath, watching her slip from his grasp yet again, and something shifts.

y.

He's running now. He's running to her, opening the car door that only seconds ago was snapped closed. "Wait," he tells her. Her breathing stops again. Just like that time in the mini-van. "You can't go again." And he kisses her. Again, after all those years.

z.

Suddenly, she can't remember how to breathe. Like a fish on dry land. But she kisses him back, somehow, and weirdly enough, it's as if they were back in high school – innocent kisses and touches. Except this time, it's her car, not his. So they keep kissing, kissing until they both run out of air and pull back, both faces etched with that dorky smile. "I've missed you," she says. And it's just like high school all over again.

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_a note:_ Yeah, it was very choppy and there were a multitude of short sentences, but I hoped you liked it nonetheless. Oh, and this isn't beta-ed, I'm apologizing not in advance for the grammar/spelling errors.

**Review? **


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